The Preatures’ Road-Trip Playlist

Just in case you’ve had enough of Born to be Wild, we’ve asked some of our favourite bands to share their own road-trip playlist favourites.

The Preatures

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Talking Heads

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Creedence Clearwater Revival

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Published on 09 January 2015

by Imogen Eveson

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The Preatures has covered a lot of ground since forming in Sydney in 2010, playing stages the length and breadth of the country and as far-flung as Glastonbury and Bonnaroo. Here, bassist Tom Champion reveals some of the band’s favourite road-trip songs, and remembers a particularly painful experience shared with high-school friend and Preatures guitarist Jack Moffitt. Nothing a bit of Michael Jackson and Neil Young can’t fix, mind you.

Talking HeadsOnce in a LifetimeThe AngelsAm I Ever Gonna See Your Face AgainMark Ronson ft. Bruno MarsUptown FunkLed ZeppelinOut On The TilesFoxygenHow Can You ReallySpoonDo YouLCD SoundsystemHomeCreedence Clearwater RevivalHeard It Through The Grapevine (or just the whole of Cosmo’s Factory)

Tom Champion: Probably my worst road-trip experience would have been in the summer of ’08/’09. Jack and I planned to drive to [Isabella Manfredi’s, Preatures vocalist and keyboardist] dad’s place up at Scotts Head on the Central Coast. Izzi was already there before Christmas and Jack and I were to drive up and meet her on Boxing Day in my old Valiant wagon. Being the smart 18 year-old lads we were, we decided to leave at what we deemed “rather early” (9am) to beat the holiday traffic. Across the harbour, up the Pacific Highway. By 10am we thought we were making good time on our estimated six-hour trip. We were wrong. Turning on to the freeway, we discovered every other person in Sydney had decided to drive north on Boxing Day at 9am, too. The freeway was a car park. It was also one of the hottest days of the year: 42 degrees. So there we were. Forty-two degrees. Old Valiant. No air-con. Traffic barely crawling. The constant fear of my poor Valiant overheating and blowing up.

At many points in the journey, Jack and I took turns getting out and walking, which was much faster than the traffic’s pace. We would walk hundreds of metres ahead to get to the next hill and see if the traffic eased up, but it didn’t. In the end, the journey took 11 hours – almost twice the time of the regular journey, and we both had bright-red, super-hero glove sunburn on opposite arms as our souvenir.